


The Two Most Powerful Warriors Ever

by afinch



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: and crookshanks too!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-19 23:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11908194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinch/pseuds/afinch
Summary: ... are patience and time.-Leo Tolstoy





	The Two Most Powerful Warriors Ever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



Susan beamed as Hermione pushed through the gate and latched it behind her.

"You've survived another year," the old woman said.

Hermione looked grim. "A man almost died. Another one got away."

Susan frowned, then nodded thoughtfully. "I'll put the tea on."

She had known Hermione ever since the little girl next door sneaked into her garden of flowers with a flower book and spent the better part of two hours cataloging everything. Susan had watched, bemused, from the porch. When the girl was done and sneaking back out, Susan had confronted her by inviting her in for tea and for Hermione to share what she had just learned. 

They made their visits a regular occurrence and the Grangers brought fruitcake at Christmas. The summer before Hermione turned 12, she confronted Susan about being from another world. In turn, Susan confronted her about being from a different world. Different worlds, but a shared secret. An unlikely pair, but they were fast friends. 

"You're very stoically British," Hermione called. "It makes you very hard to place."

Susan laughed from the kitchen, "Hadn't we decided that Susan the Gentle was a Hufflepuff? Or are you still biased on Gryffindor?" She hadn't received an answer, but nor had she been expecting one. 

The kettle didn't take long and she walked out with it to find Hermione buried in a book. A cooking book. One of hers, in fact. The one she'd leant the girl the summer last and had never seen again. She raised a brow at Hermione, but said nothing except, "Sugar this time, dear?"

"Two please," Hermione said, graciously accepting the cup. 

Susan settled back and waited for Hermione to get comfortable. Eventually Hermione would say what was on her mind, but there was no need for either of them to indulge in idle chitchat while that happened. Susan had had a lifetime of silences, a few more moments wasn't going to kill her.

Presently, Hermione set down her half-empty cup and bit her lip. "It's just .. they gave me a Time Turner, like I was saying last summer, and I honestly only used it to go to classes except the last time and …"

"It didn't work how you thought it would," Susan supplied. "Time is like that. Only linear. You can't change what's already been done, just move the outcome around a fair bit."

Hermione nodded, "Yes, like that. But we did change the outcome, we saved a man's life. Only all Harry could talk about after was how he'd saved Sirius and going back and thinking he'd seen his dad, but he'd seen himself, and even Ron talked about how brilliant it was. Neither of them said anything to do with how we got there in the first place."

It was entirely the middle of the story and Susan had no idea what Hermione was talking about. Sirius hadn't been introduced to the story yet, and while the two had spoken last summer about the Time Turner, Hermione hadn't supplied how it actually worked, just that it did. 

"Ah, yes, I remember when Ed started getting all the accolades for things we'd done. Even in Narnia, it was the men who saved the day," Susan said. 

"They wouldn't be here if it weren't for me," Hermione muttered. "Ron beats the chess set and he's got his whole family to lift him up, and well, Harry's Harry, everyone lifts him up. I come home to dentists and explaining figuring out Snape's riddles or Lupin's secret is just brushed under the rug. It's just taken for granted how smart I am."

Susan knew this all too well. "And you're bossy when you try to assert yourself," she said, but not as a question. "You could never get the credit anyway. It's the boy who lived, not the girl who holds him up. Narnia is about Aslan and never about what any of us do to hold him up."

Hermione looked at Susan carefully. Susan knew that look. It meant Hermione wanted to ask something about Narnia. Susan was guarded about it, she'd spilled too much during this conversation. But the girl was fighting a war against a terrible enemy, and having been there, Susan wanted to help as much as she could. She nodded at Hermione.

"Aslan. Did he ever … I mean, he wasn't the sort to just take you and what you were doing for granted, was he?"

Susan let out a short laugh, "Oh, goodness, that's exactly what Aslan was. It took me decades after their deaths for me to see it, all pawns in Aslan's grand plan. It mattered little to him, so long as we played along. It's hard not to play along when the reward is so tantalizing. Really, he was a monster who preyed on our idealism."

Hermione shuddered. "Dumbledore isn't like that. He appreciates me."

Susan poured them each another cup and waited a moment before speaking. In the same way she gave Hermione space, Hermione gave her space to think through her thoughts. "What did he give you, for using it the last time?"

It was evident that Hermione was upset by this comment. She didn't have an immediate response, and her eyes swelled out with tears. "He's the only one who can help Harry win this war, Hermione said, with a slight sniffle. "I don't think he's a bad person just because you had Aslan."

Susan was saved from a response by noticing something in the garden. "There appears to be an orange cat working his way towards the door. Friend of yours?"

"Crookshanks!" Hermione cried, looking relieved. She ran to the cat and grabbed him cup. She looked up at Susan, and Susan nodded her permission. The cat was a bit … misshapen around the face. Even so, Susan could tell upon looking that this wasn't a normal cat. He looked like an Aslan-cub, if she stared at him long enough. 

"Tell me about him," Susan said. "He's magical, isn't he?"

Hermione looked surprised, "He's a kneazle. Well, half-kneazle."

In response to this, the cat jumped from Hermione's arms and purred around Susan's feet.

"He likes you!" Hermione said pleased. "I knew he would, he's an excellent judge of character. Knew Pettigrew was Pettigrew even when he was Ron's rat, even if Ron wouldn't hear of it …"

And the young woman started rambling on and on about Ron and what an utter prat he was. The cat was definitely magical, knowing to show up when he did. Susan smiled and nodded as Hermione stayed on the subject of Ron. She couldn't see it, but Susan could. It would be mean to push at Hermione about her obvious growing love for Ron.

Susan sat back, tea topped off, and smiled. It had been a lonely life without her family, but it had been lucky having the Grangers move in next door.


End file.
